Dec 16, 2012

Human head for N6,000

A man simply identified as Iku Monday by residents of Sabo area of Abeokuta, Ogun State, is still being quizzed by the police for allegedly beheading dead woman (names withheld) after exhuming her corpse from a grave in her husband’s building site. Checks by Sun revealed that on August 18 this year, Mr. Abiodun, husband of Monday’s victim, contracted Monday to clear a plot of land belonging to him on the outskirts of Sabo for a fee.

On the site was a grave of his (Abiodun’s) second wife, who died recently of complications following delivery of her baby. Sun also authoritatively gathered that trouble started when a resident simply identified as Mr. Akpan allegedly spotted Iku Monday while exhuming and beheading the corpse of the dead woman. Akpan then raised the alarm, alerting the neighbourhood of the dastardly act by Monday and in no time a crowd gathered to ‘arrest’ Monday. They reportedly swooped on him but he escaped. The mob gave a hot chase and eventually caught and stripped him naked, clubbing the daylight out of him, while demanding an explanation for desecrating act. After much battering, Monday allegedly confessed that he was commissioned by a white garment pastor (names withheld), who owns a “mission house” in a village called Oloomore in Ayetoro area of Abeokuta. He alleged that the said cleric gave him N6,000 to get him the head of a dead person. His words, “Please, be lenient with me.

I was asked to do this by a white garment cleric. He paid me N6,000 for the job. I have been searching for a corpse’s head before Mr. Abiodun contracted me to clear this site, and when I discovered a grave on the site, and was sure it was recently dug, I decided to exhume the corpse and behead her. I didn’t know it was Oga Abiodun’s wife. If you spare my life, I will take you to the cleric, but not in this naked condition, I would have to put on my clothes so the cleric will recognize me.” As others were bent on lynching Monday, elders intervened and pleaded with the mob to allow Monday lead them to the cleric.

Iku Monday then took the mob to the outskirts of Sabo, a place called Oloomore, on Sanni Road in Ayetoro area of Ogun State. On getting to the cleric’s place, a drama first played out in the shanty that could only be described as a pigsty. Persons suspected to be worshippers or members of a religious sect promptly took to their heels as soon as they spotted a crowd approaching with Iku Monday.

The makeshift shanty has no proper roofing, only a brownish mosquito net hung over it. There was no furniture of any kind to give the place the appearance of a ‘home’. Sunday Sun discovered fetish materials such as the horns of a ram wrapped with red and black clothes, carved wooden images of a man and woman tied together with sacks, and a cock in a basket with its legs bound. These and many other items hard to describe in print were found in the place.

The cleric denied Monday’s allegation, saying he had never set eyes on him before. His words, “He is a liar o. I don’t know him from Adam. He is an agent of the devil brought to destroy my ministry. They have failed spiritually, now they are combating me physically.” But residents of Ayetoro, especially the cleric’s neighbours, told Sun they had always suspected the cleric.

“When he first came to this place, he always carried one fetish sacrifice or the other to three-way junctions in this area. We have often wondered if he is truly a man of God as he professes. How can a man of God be involved in fetish things?” Elder Kasumu, a resident of the area, said. Unmoved by the ‘pastor’s denial, the mob took Monday and his ‘client’ to the Sabo Police Station to face the law.